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Giordano out indefinitely

CALGARY, AB -- On Friday morning, Calgary Flames general manager Jay Feaster announced defenceman Mark Giordano will be out of the lineup indefinitely with partially ruptured tendons in his left leg.

"Gio will be out indefinitely. He will be reexamined, reevaluated and another MRI performed in about three weeks," Feaster told the assembled media. "At that time, we will have more insight from our medical team as to a further prognosis and a time frame."

Giordano suffered the injury on Tuesday's game against the Nashville Predators. He went down to block a shot and ruptured the tendons when he went to get back up.

"I think what happened was my skate got caught in a rut on the ice and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my leg," Giordano said. "I knew something was definitely wrong ... nothing you can do about it now except treat it."

Right now, Giordano has been told by the medical staff to rest and refrain from any kind of training. The blueliner is known for his unwavering work ethic and the frustration over not being able to even get some light training in right now could be heard in his voice.

"The next couple days, basically take it easy and go from there," he sighed. "It's sort of a day-to-day thing with the treatment side of things. Until I know differently, I'm going to it the way I'm being told to and that's all I can do right now."

In 2008-09, the Toronto native was sidelined with a shoulder injury and was limited to 58 games that year. After being forced to watch his team from the press box for the remaining 24 contests of that campaign, he knows how important it is to maintain an optimistic mindset through his recovery.

"You don't like to watch your team play but it is what it is. I've gone through the shoulder before where I missed a bunch of games and it sucks.

"I'm trying to keep a positive spin on things and hopefully I'll get back as soon as possible."

While losing Giordano is a big hit to take, Feaster believes the organization is in a much better position than it has been in the last few years when it comes to defensive depth. Joe Piskula was recalled from the Abbotsford Heat on Thursday, giving the Flames another option on the blueline, and Brett Carson has started his conditioning stint in Abbotsford.

Carson will play with the Heat until December 11th, when he will return to Calgary and join the team on their four-game road swing.

Feaster also noted that Clay Wilson and Brendan Mikkelson have both shown they are serviceable NHL defenceman.

"We have more depth than we did last year," he said. "Now it's a matter of putting that depth to the test."